ROUGVIE was part of the famous side which won the European Cup Winners' Cup and then Scottish Cup in the space of a week in May 1983 - but were still slaughtered by their manager.

DOUG ROUGVIE has got some wonderful memories of the Scottish Cup. He’s got some pretty decent photos as well.

The memories he’s happy to share. As for the photos? No chance.

The Aberdeen legend’s Scottish Cup celebrations were cut short in 1983 when boss Alex Ferguson wrecked the party by famously hammering his players in a television interview on the touchline – minutes after they had beaten Rangers at Hampden.

Not even cup glory could save the squad from the Hairdryer firing at full blast – and ruining the celebrations.

Rougvie said: “That cup final was an absolute disaster. We hadn’t played that well but we had won the Cup Winners’ Cup the week earlier and then beat Rangers 1-0.

“It was another trophy but Fergie came into the dressing room and absolutely slaughtered us. I bet even he cringes when he thinks about it now.

“We were just about to open the champagne when someone said, ‘Don’t open that – he’s outside slaughtering us on the telly’.

“We couldn’t believe it. We’d just won the Cup. But sure enough he came in and went through us. The team when down to the Old Course Hotel at St Andrews and it was like a funeral.

“Everyone ended up disappearing early. I was thinking, ‘What a party this is – it’s just me left with the wife’.

“We were ready to call it a night but I noticed the trophy was still sitting there. I picked it up and took it to the bedroom with us.

“In the morning it was bedlam. Everyone thought someone had nicked the Cup. They hadn’t realised it was involved in a threesome with me and the wife upstairs!

“I got some cracking photographs – that no one will ever see – so it didn’t turn out to be a bad night after all!”

Daily Record

Rougvie with the Scottish Cup

It’s no shock tough-tackling Rougvie didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Fergie. It’s a club with enough members to fill Hampden a few times over.

He said: “That was what Fergie was like. You respected him but he could be an absolute b******.

“He was like a cocker spaniel – you didn’t know if he was going to lick you or bite you! In that famous interview on the telly he said it was Miller and McLeish who won the Cup. Talk about how to split a team. Imagine how that made the rest of us feel.

“It was all about him. When I was a youngster at the club he cancelled my day-release course to be an engineer, which probably cut my future livelihood in half. I’m not bitter.

“He might not have handed me any money but he gave me a bag full of medals. You can’t argue with that.”

There were plenty of arguments during his playing days – and one biggie that ended his time at Pittodrie.

Rougvie said: “I had 12 years at the club and would have happily stayed there for the rest of my career.

“It came to my contract and Fergie said he wasn’t giving me a lot of money but he promised me a testimonial at the end of the two years.

“That was the carrot and I signed it but two years later he told me, ‘You’ve got no f****** chance of a testimonial’.

“He said I had gone to speak to Chelsea behind his back but I was out of contract so it was natural to speak to other clubs. He called me a f****** mercenary and told me to go so I did.

“What really hurt me was he slaughtered me in the papers. Two years later he went down to Manchester United and got his big move. The truth was Fergie saw it his way.

“We met a few times afterwards. I bumped into him at a game at Luton. I joked to Fergie, ‘See who you see when you don’t have a gun!’ He laughed and found it funny.

“He made a lot of mistakes at Aberdeen and that set him up for when he went to Old Trafford. Make no mistake, he is the best manager ever.

“You won’t get anybody else as good as him. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Fergie slated them below

Rougvie’s Pittodrie departure hurt – but not half as much as watching his beloved Dons toil in the years after Fergie’s exit.

The class of 2014 are looking to end the 19-year trophy drought in the League Cup Final against Inverness next week and blast into the last four of the Scottish Cup by seeing off Dumbarton at Pittodrie tomorrow.

Rougvie said: “I’m definitely a fan and I try to get down to every game at Pittodrie.

“Nineteen years? It’s scary. Is it really that long since big Roy Aitken? It’s about time.

“We should be competing but we have had a few disasters.

“Ebbe Skovdahl made us the worst team in Europe at one stage but the fans still loved him for some reason.

“Alex Miller was another one – he tried to bury us. But we survived that as well! Thank goodness that has all gone now.

“We were incredibly successful but there are a new generations of supporters who are not used to seeing their team winning things.

“They’ve heard all about the Fergie years and the Gothenburg stuff. They want to see success of their own.

“It’s great for them to be in a final and in with a chance of another. It would be great to win even one trophy but to go on and lift two would be an incredible achievement.”

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